Improved machine foe making levees



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TO ALL WHOM IT MAY CONGERN:

Be it known that I, ERNEST COME'AUX, of Bayou Goula, parish of Iberville, and State of Louisiana, have invented a certain new, useful, and improved Machine for Making Levees; and I do hereby delare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the annexed drawings making a part of this speciiication.

It is well known that the rich alluvial lands bordering the Mississippi river and some of its great tributaries, are subject to annual inundations, and that in consequence `thereof these lands can only be made subservient to use by a system of earth embankments, commonly called levees, that are thrown up along the margins of said river and its tributaries, high enoiigh to confine the waters of the same within the natural channels. These embankments have heretofore been built entirely by hand, the wheel or hand-barrow, and spade and shovel, being the only implements used, and hence it has followed that their construction has been necessarily very slow, and at the same time enormously expensive.

My invention has for its object, not alone the more expeditious building of levees, but also to reduce the cost of their construction; and it consists of a machine, which, driven by steam-power, builds them up without the use of wheel or hand-barrows, by means of an endless apron, that carries the earth and deposits it precisely I where it is wanted.

`rivaal view of my machine.

But my invention will be better understood by referring to the drawings at Figure 1, which is an isomet A represents a steam-engine, "of light construction, but of suiiicient power to drive my machine. This engine is permanently connected to and is supported upon the samewhecls that sustain my machine. Action or motion isV imparted to the machine by the steam-engine through the agency of spur-wheels B and C, and thcendless chain D, by any suitable intermediate gearing. The spur-wheel C,

being firmly secured to the axle of driving-pulley E, revolves the same, and thereby gives motion to the end` less apron F, which envelopes the same, as well as pulley G, and is sustained at all intermediate points between said4 pulleys by the endless chains H, and the slats orI bars J, between said chains. t The frame K, that supports the apron F, through or by means of the pulleys E and G, chains H, and slats J, is hinged or pivoted at a, and thus the end 1 of said frame, from whichthe earth is precipitated in the @peraton of the machine, may be elevated or depressed, accordingly as the height of the levee may make it desirable to elevate or lower the same. The movable or adjustable end 1 of the frame K extends or projects over the bottom framework considerably more in a machine made for actual use or practice than is shown in the drawings. Pins or bolts, b, that pass through the fixed standards or posts L into the frame K, hold the latter at any point of elevation v at which it may be adjusted. To insure a sucient and regular tension upon the chains H, ahd the apron F,

tightening adjustable pulleys cl and elare placed underneath the apron, and the blocks M, in which the journals p of the pulley E are fixed, are movable, so that when the eind 1 of the frame is raised, they can bemoved out wardly and inwardly when the end is lowered. No means for adjusting the tensionl of the endless cbainD are shown upon the drawings, but it may be done byan idler-spur pulley, or by the employment of any of the usual contrivances for such purpose.

1n order that the machine may be moved backwards and forwards, as well as laterally or sidewise, two distinct sets of wheels are provided, one set being removable, whilst the other set is permanently secured to the v machine. One pair of the removable wheels, with its axle, is shown at O, Figure 2, the other pair being exactly like those shown. When the machine is to be moved forwards or backwards, it is raised by any suitable means, first at one end and then at the other, high enough for the axles of this set of wheels to be placed in the boxes c. When the machine is at work upon a levee, the wheels O having been detached, it rests upon thewheels R, and consequently may be moved laterally whenever, in the progress of the work, such movement becomes necessary.

The operation of my machine is very simple. Having been brought upon wheels O into such a'position that the end of the apron-frame marked 1 is over the line upon which the levee is to be raised, the wheels O are then taken off and the steam-'engine started. Through the agency of spur-wheels B and C, and the endless chain D, the engine gives motionto the apron F. Earth is now thrown upon the apron, near end 2, with spades and shovels, and it is taken by the apron up to end 1, and there precipitated upon the ground over scraper N. This scraper N subserves the object of freeing the apron of such earth as, fromits coherent or sticky character,

D end l ofthe apron-frame K is from time to time raised, until the desired elevation of the embankment is attained. When this ishaccomplished, the machine is moved either. to the right or left, as may be' desired, about its width, and so on until the levee is completed. The machine is easily moved upon wheels R, nor does it require to be stopped whilst it is being moved, but works on continuously.

The levees on the Mississippi river are usually from eight to fifteen feet high. In some places they are twenty and even twenty-live feet high. When this fact is considered, the reason of the enormous cost of con i structing these works, under the system hitherto practised, becomes at once obvious. Every particle of earth put upon the levees now in existence, after they had attained an elevation and width that made it inconvenient or impossible for the laborers to throw it up with their spades or shovels, was carried up in wheel or handbarrows, and it needs but to state this fact to demonstrate how Very tedious and costly was the process. My invention entirely dispenses-with everything of the kind, and hencc its economic advantages are really almost incalculable.

Having thus described my machine, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The endless apron, in combination with the hinged adjustable frame K, operating as described, for levating the earth used in making levees, in the manner and for the purpose set forth.

2. The combination of the endless apron F, chains Il, slats J, and adjustable supporting-frame K, and standards L, as herein described for the purpose set forth. i

3. The above, in combination with the spur-wheels C and B, andthe endless chain D, as herein described, for the purpose set forth. I

may adhere to its surface, and thus prevents the apron from clogging'. As the levee increases in height, the

ERNEST COMEAUX. Witnesses:

RUFUs R. Rnonns, H. N. JENKINS. 

